When a mismatched team of quirky remote workers from five continents are forced to meet in person to save their failing dating‑app startup, cultural clashes and secret agendas explode into hilarious chaos—until they realize their only shot at success (and friendship) is to build something together that’s never been done before.

SYNOPSIS:

Out of Office is a half-hour, single-camera workplace comedy that taps into the absurdity, heart, and chaos of our hyper‑connected world. The series follows a motley crew of remote employees from across the globe who work for Fling, a struggling dating-app startup. They’ve never met in person, yet their daily lives are intertwined through screens, Slack pings, and half-frozen Zoom calls spanning five continents.

At its core, the show explores:

• Modern remote work culture: How do people build trust, camaraderie, and accountability when their colleagues exist only as pixelated squares and memes?

• Cross‑cultural humor and empathy: Each character brings unique customs, languages, and family expectations, creating both friction and deep understanding.

• The tension between data and human connection: As Fling’s algorithms drive “love,” the team must reconcile metrics with messy real lives.

• Personal growth through chaos: This misfit ensemble must learn to collaborate in real space, shedding isolation and embracing vulnerability.

Throughout the first season, the team is challenged to pivot the company from a struggling dating app to a profitable experiential brand (“Fling Out”), while fending off a rival tech giant and navigating their own romantic and familial entanglements. The tone marries the dry wit of The Office with the heartfelt multicultural storytelling of Kim’s Convenience, punctuated by physical comedy and unexpected warmth.

The pilot opens with the Fling team dispersed in their home countries, attending a final pre‑launch Zoom meeting. Emily Chen, the overachieving product manager in San Francisco, tries desperately to keep everyone on schedule for a major update. Raul Garcia, a laid‑back Spanish developer, pushes the deploy button early as a joke. Chaos ensues: Fling’s algorithm goes rogue, matching an elderly woman with her own ex and pairing dogs with people around the world. Amid the glitch, their flamboyant French CEO Frank Dubois pops in with faux-Eiffel Tower backdrops and buzzwords, oblivious to the impending disaster.

After patching the bug, the team receives a surprise mandate: a mandatory in‑person offsite in Mexico City. Emily, a chronic planner, is reluctantly excited to leave her plant‑filled apartment; Raul charms airline clerks for an upgrade; Priya Patel, a savvy Indian influencer, live‑streams her packing; Olaf Eriksson, a stoic Swedish QA manager, schedules his vacation like a military operation; Lamiya Ba, a Kenyan QA engineer and mother, negotiates childcare; and Jake Williams, a slacker support specialist in Kansas, frantically orders travel gadgets while his mom hands him pink pepper spray.

As they converge on a boutique hotel in Mexico City, the team experiences the shock of seeing each other’s lower halves for the first time. Frank welcomes them with a cactus hug and promises “synergy” and a “surprise.” That surprise arrives in the form of Soraya Naqvi, the British-Pakistani CFO, who brings sobering news: Fling has only two months of runway left. To stay alive, the team must craft a profitable new product idea in 48 hours and pitch it to the investor, Mariana Santana, at the end of the week. Failure will mean shutting down the company.

Faced with existential pressure, the group moves from initial panic to brainstorming. Between taco runs and mariachi‑soundtracked nights, Emily corrals ideas while Raul jokes, Priya storyboards marketing plans, Olaf scrutinizes liability issues, Lamiya writes clever copy, and Jake whips up a crude prototype. Together they conceive “Fling Out,” a service that uses Fling’s matching algorithm to curate in‑person experiences—cooking classes, hikes, volunteer projects—charging users for the chance to connect in real life. The team works overnight, bonding over shared fears and jokes, while Frank admits his guilt at hiding the company’s dire situation and Soraya reveals her loyalty to the team despite her fiscal persona.

On pitch day, Frank—coached by Soraya—introduces Fling Out to investor Mariana. Emily and the team demonstrate the prototype, describe the revenue model, and emphasize safety and inclusivity. Mariana counters with concerns about scale and trust, but she’s impressed by their scrappiness and offers a conditional investment: $3 million for 25% of the company now, with an additional $3 million if they hit 10,000 paying users within four months. The team accepts, celebrating with a mariachi band and newfound hope.

Just as they toast to their success, Soraya whispers to Emily about a looming threat: Findr, a ruthless competitor, plans to launch in 30 countries in three weeks. Emily’s satisfaction turns to steely determination—hinting at the season‑long arc of balancing growth with looming external pressure.

The episode ends on this pivot point: the crew has rescued their company for now, but bigger challenges are ahead. The viewer is left eager to follow these unlikely allies as they stumble through cultural misunderstandings, budding romances, and tech‑industry stakes, all while discovering that they may not be so different after all.

OUT OF OFFICE - (PILOT)